How to reverse my diabetes

Kindly let me know how to reverse my Type 2 Diabetes. I am in my mid-fifties and overweight

Arike (by SMS)

The chances are that you are overweight or even obese, that’s what usually triggers it. Losing weight and keeping it off is the key to reversing diabetes, or more accurately, putting it into remission. If you put the weight back on diabetes will return. Diabetes is not a death sentence but it is a life sentence. So you have two objectives. One is short-term, keep your blood sugars down. The long-term one is to lose weight and keep it stable at a healthy level.

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Sugar spikes are caused by eating or drinking food with sugar in it or that can be quickly turned into sugar. Refined sugar, flour or starchy foods need to be cut down. Dilute starch in your meals by including more fibre, protein and fats. So use brown rice, wholemeal flour not white, more leafy vegetables, fruit but not fruit-juice, lean meat, fish, eggs. Oil and fat contribute to the short-term goal but not the long-term one.

Unless your diabetes is severe, you shouldn’t need to take insulin. High blood sugars for extended periods can attack and organ, including the pancreas. That can mean that you no longer make enough insulin and that can push your sugar levels even higher. So the diabetic mantra is: eat less, eat better, exercise more. The exercise part is not optional.